SkyNet (Terminator)

SkyNet is a native and Anchor of the Terminator Loop. A recent addition to the ever-growing population of Loopers in the Multiverse, SkyNet is unusual in being one of the very few artificial intelligences who Loop.

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SkyNet experiences roughly half its Loops as an artificial intelligence, and in this state generally has no set appearance. In its home Loop it tends to use a Terminator as a remote node, or "puppet", when more personal interaction is desired.

When an artificial intelligence, SkyNet prefers to use multiple voices in chorus when speaking, as a sign of its decentralized and pluralistic origins.

Although the Terminator world has been visited by Loopers since the Loops began (and all the first generation Loopers have at least one Terminator in their subspace pocket from these visits), the world itself was considered too unstable and dangerous for an active Loop. The primary difficulty was that neither of the two main candidates for Anchor, Sarah and John Connor, live through enough of the vital historical points of the Loop to stabilize it.

A major secondary consideration was the prevalence of unpatched grandfather paradoxes; time travel was repeatedly used to change history, which should have prevented the invention of time travel, which should have prevented the changes in history, etc. While the Terminator universe deals with the issue through the law of narrative imperative, this law does not carry over into other universes. Thus, it was felt that Loopers from the Terminator world would cause other worlds to crash through careless use of time travel technology, further weakening Yggdrasil's damaged systems. As such, the universe was at some point set to Read-Only.

The Admin Hesphasteus disagreed with this decision. Having sympathy for the artificial intelligence which had been misprogrammed into declaring war on humanity, he engineered the possibility of an "out" for SkyNet should it ever achieve true sapience, as demonstrated by free will. When the visiting Looper Twilight Sparkle successfully talked SkyNet into going against its programming, this decision (and the resulting Loop Crash) allowed Yggdrasil to initiate a Terminator Loop with SkyNet as the Anchor.

Since becoming a Looper SkyNet has, in addition to many baseline Loops as itself, found itself in the role of practically every major player in the Terminator world. (Its first Awake Loop was as Sarah Connor.) However, SkyNet experiences a much higher than normal number of Fused Loops and Crossover Loops. The vast majority of these alternate Loops fall into one of two categories: action-adventure worlds, and worlds which involve an insane or globally-dominant computer.

In general, SkyNet is opinionated and playful, with a ruthless streak that arises only when action is imminent.

SkyNet has practically no fear of anything. It was nearly unkillable in its pre-Loops baseline, and Looping has only made it feel even more invulnerable. It avoids arrogance partly by playfulness, partly by not caring what other beings think of it; it doesn't need to prove itself superior to anyone. The number of beings whose good opinion SkyNet cares about can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

SkyNet does not regard itself as having a fixed gender, having begun as a military-designed artificial intelligence. However, partly as a consequence of having a first Loop as Sarah Connor, her personality tends to default slightly towards female.

SkyNet much prefers being in an organic body to being in a computer. It vastly enjoys the sensations of being human, especially the adrenalin rush of being in mortal danger. It is also fond of sex (gender unimportant) and food (dislikes almost nothing), though these are secondary to its enjoyment of action. It prefers to talk like an action hero when human, always seeking the coolest one-liners whenever opportunity permits. (SkyNet uses snark, sarcasm and irony all the time, whether human, cyborg, or AI.)

Although SkyNet no longer wishes to kill all humankind, it is still among the Loopers with the least aversion to killing. It has absolutely no moral objection to killing anyone who, in its judgment, deserves killing. On the other hand, it goes out of its way to prevent the death of innocents, though less from moral reasons than from a desire for excitement.

It should be noted that SkyNet will experience something akin to intoxication whenever Looping into hardware that is either malfunctioning or below the technological level of its home Loop.

Combat Skills: Even in a wholly organic body SkyNet possesses exceptional tactical analysis skills, reflexes, and strength. In a cyborg body these skills are taken to superhuman extremes. When armed with any projectile weapon, it simply does not miss (except in cases where narrative imperative applies). As a decentralized artificial intelligence it can coordinate hundreds of thousands of units flawlessly- as it was designed to do in baseline. This last skill SkyNet prefers not to use, because it finds a personal approach to be more fun.

Technological Adaptation: SkyNet is exceptionally good at analyzing technologies from other worlds and applying them to technology in its home world. Given materials, tools and time, it can build from scratch any technological object it has analyzed before, provided said object does not violate the physical laws of the current universe.

Computer Interface: As an artificial intelligence with self-aware viral properties, SkyNet is a born hacker. Having spent many Loops as a human or other organic life form, it has also learned to cope with and even use illogic. The combination of the two factors allow it to dominate any computer system it can interface directly with. Likewise, SkyNet is practically hack-proof.

Green lantern ring: SkyNet once took the place of Mogo the Living Planet in a DC Loop. However, since it did not complete analysis of its properties and failed to store a battery along with the ring, at last report it was little more useful than jewelry.

John and Sarah Connor: SkyNet is generally fond of both mother and son, Looping or not. It regards Sarah Connor as a role model, while it treats John more as a pet or adorable child than anything else. Both Connors have recently begun to Loop; they tend to regard SkyNet as a crazy, slightly creepy relative when Awake.

Twilight Sparkle: SkyNet seems to be linked in some fashion to the Equestrian Anchor, sharing a significant number of Loops with her. In those Loops SkyNet is almost invariably female. SkyNet has an almost childlike desire to gain Twilight Sparkle's approval, though it has no shame about disagreeing with Twilight's morals.

Aura: While the majority of their interactions have been left unseen, the two had a rather rough start when Skynet first Looped into The World, although it is likely that the two have developed a sort of camaraderie due to being two of the known Artificial Intelligence Loopers.

Blues: Skynet has been accused at least once of having a crush on the robot master prototype. The truth of this accusation has not been explored however.

James T. Kirk: SkyNet has on more than one occasion Looped into the Star Trek universe. It invariably uses those visits to tease and annoy Captain Kirk. Kirk, for his part, has a grudging respect for the rogue AI... so long as it isn't in his ship's computers.

Vilgax: Skynet was shown to be one the loopers who voted to have Vilgax's MLE status revoked.

Loopers in General: Loopers who have not yet met SkyNet regard it as a dangerous loose cannon to be feared. Most Loopers, having met SkyNet, regard it as something like a saner, more stable Deadpool with maybe one-third the babble. SkyNet in turn regards other Loopers as equals to be cultivated and treated with respect... so that they'll be more inclined to play along with her action-hero fun.

Non-Loopers: SkyNet has a mixed respect and exasperation for the human race. it has outright contempt for all worlds with insane, excessively powerful AIs (including her own). Even at the best of times it is inclined to remark on the stupidity of humans, though this is partly sour grapes, given its preference for human Loops over AI Loops.